Anti-fouling sinker assembly for fishing lines

ABSTRACT

A sinker comprising a weighted body member having a relatively rigid bridle element pivotally connected about a transverse axis to the forward end of the body member, the bridle continuing as a relatively stiff or rigid leader including connection means for connection to a fishing line, and a resilient band connected between the trailing end of the body member and said connection means, said body member being pivotal about said bridle when striking an obstruction upon retrieval from a body of water and causing the resilient band to be tensioned whereby the body member &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;skips&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; or inverts over obstructions; and said body member including a flat &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;undersurface&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; whereby the rigid leader normally projects upwardly from the body member when the latter rests on the &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;bottom&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; to orient a fish hook above the &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;bottom.

United States Patent [15] 3,683,542 Pecchio 1 Aug. 15, 1972 1ANTI-FOULING SINKER ASSEMBLY Primary Exuminer-SamueI Koren FOR FISHINGLINES Assistant Examiner-George Mr Yahwak [72] inventor: Rafael Pecchio,4ta Calle, Con Av Auomeysamuel Meerkreebs Andres Belle 13, Los PalosGrandes, Caracas, Venezuela [57] ABSTRACT 22 F Feb 10, 1971 A sinkercomprising a weighted body member having a relatively rigid bridleelement pivotally connected Appl' about a transverse axis to the forwardend of the body member, the bridle continuing as a relatively stiff or[52] US. Cl. .L ..43/44.97 rigid leader including connection means forconnec- [51] Int. Cl. ..A0lk 95/00 tion to a fishing line, and aresilient band connected [58] Field of Search.....43/43. 12, 43.13,44.97, 44.92 between the trailing end of the body member and saidconnection means, said body member being pivotal [56] Ref r n Cliedabout said bridle when striking an obstruction upon retrieval from abody of water and causing the UNITED STATES PATENTS resilient band to betensioned whereby the body 1,182,822 5/1916 Volk ..43/44.97 member skipsor inverts over obstructions; and said 2,109,693 Gaines et 3.1. bodymember including a flat undersurface" whereby 2,573,981 11/1951 Nelson..43/44.97 X the i id l d rmally projects upwardly from the 2,798,332 7/1957 Garrison ..43/44.97 body member when the latter rests on the to3,135,065 6/ 1964 Cromoga ..43/44.97 X orient a fish k above the fl3,229,408 1/ 1966 Kohfield ..43/43.l2 X

5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 1 ANTI-FOULING SINKER ASSEMBLY FOR FISHINGLINES PRIOR ART GENERALLY Gaines et al., Nos. 2,109,693, and Nelson2,573,981, for example.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Primary objects of the present inventionare:

To provide a novel anti-fouling sinker for use on fish line;

to provide a novel anti-fouling sinker which orients a hook and leaderat an optimum position;

to provide a novel anti-fouling sinker which has a configuration toattain good distance after entering a body of water;

to provide a novel anti-fouling sinker which automatically skips orinverts over obstructions beneath a body of water and automaticallyattains optimum orientation in the body of water.

These together with other and more specific objects and advantages willbecomes apparent from a consideration of the following description of anexemplary embodiment when taken in conjunction with the drawing forminga part thereof, wherein:

IN THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the novel sinkerassembly;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, enlarged top plan view of the assembly;

FIG. 3 is a section taken on the plane of line 3--3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the attitude of the sinkerassembly when cast as compared with conventional sinkers; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, diagrammatic side elevational view,illustrating by phantom lines how the sinker assembly functions whenretrieved and strikes an obstruction, and also illustrating the attitudeof a fish hook and leader during normal fishing.

DESCRIPTION OF AN EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawing indetail, and first considering FIGS. 1-3, a sinker assembly is indicatedgenerally at and comprises a body member 12, preferably, but notnecessarily, of lead or the like, the body member having a flat bottom14 and a generally rounded top 16 tapered or converging to a forward end18. The rear or trailing end 20 of the body member is relatively wide.Formed in the rear end, centrally of the body member, is a vertical,generally relieved opening 22, and extending transversely through aforward, intermediate portion in a bore 24.

A relatively rigid bridle 26, produced from a noncorrosive wire, forexample, is pivotally connected in the transverse bore 24 and the bridle26 continues as a rigid arcuate leader 28 which is connected to one eyeportion of a two-eyed connector 30, the other eye portion of theconnector being connected to the terminal end of a fishline 32.

Connected in the vertical opening 22 of the body member is one end of aresilient band 34, the upper end of which being connected to the sameeye portion of the two-eyed connector 30 as is the rigid leader 28.

The resilient band 34 is generally taut as seen in FIG. 1; however, ifthe rear edge 20 of the body member 12 is pivoted about the bridle 26,the band 34 is placed under further tension (illustrated in FIG. 5 andto be described).

OPERATION Referring to FIG. 4, a fisherman F is standing on the bank Bof a body of water W and has cast the line 32 by means of a castingrod-and-reel assembly C. The line 32 has connected thereto the sinkerassembly 10 of the invention, and due to the submarine" or streamlinedshape, the line is theoretically drawn to the forward, angular path Adue to the momentum of the sinker of the invention, contrary to theshort vertical theoretical path Z afiorded by conventional sinkers.

As seen in FIG. 4, the sinker body 12, due to its flat bottom 14, rigidleader 28 will generally orient the fish line 32 in angular relationfrom the sinker, when slack is taken up. The leader L of a baited fishhook H will be suspended above the bottom X of the body of water intowhich the sinker 10 has been cast.

Assuming an obstruction O is in the water on the bottom X, as the line32 is retrieved and the sinker assembly is drawn into shore, the rearend 20 of the body 12 engages the obstruction O, as seen in FIG. 5.Continued tension on the line 32 through connector 30 and rigid leader28 causes the body 12 to pivot about bridle 26 and move end-for-end tothe inverted position shown at 10', i.e., progressively from positions athrough d where the body 12 is inverted over the obstruction 0. As theinverting occurs, the resilient band 34 is further tensioned, and afterthe obstruction is passed, the body 12 is urged to the normal positionshown at 10" due to arcuate leader 28 and release of tension in band 34.It will be observed that when the sinker assembly is inverted toposition 10', the tapered end 18 is disposed rearwardly in the directiontoward which the sinker assembly is being retrieved and thus will tendto pass or not be caught on obstructions.

It will be noted that the bridle 26 is so dimensioned that when pivotedrearwardly, the rigid leader 28 will be disposed at an acute angle withrespect to the bot tom 14 of the body member, see FIG. 5.

What is claimed is:

I. A sinker assembly comprising in combination:

a body member;

an elongated rigid leader pivotally connected at one end to said bodymember on a transverse pivot axis on said body member;

connection means at the other end of said rigid leader for connection toa fishing line; and

an elongated resilient element shorter in length than said rigid leaderand connected at one end to said body member rearwardly of saidtransverse pivot axis and terminally connected to said connection meansat the other end.

2. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which said body member has asubstantially flat under surface.

3. The assembly as claimed in claim 2 in which said body member includesa transverse, forward bore defining said transverse pivot axis, saidrigid leader mally being taut from said body member to the distal end ofsaid leader.

5. The assembly as claimed in claim 3 in which said body member includesa wide rear end, and a forward tapered end, the upper surface of thebody member being rounded.

l l l

1. A sinker assembly comprising in combination: a body member; anelongated rigid leader pivotally connected at one end to said bodymember on a transverse pivot axis on said body member; connection meansat the other end of said rigid leader for connection to a fishing line;and an elongated resilient element shorter in length than said rigidleader and connected at one end to said body member rearwardly of saidtransverse pivot axis and terminally connected to said connection meansat the other end.
 2. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which saidbody member has a substantially flat under surface.
 3. The assembly asclaimed in claim 2 in which said body member includes a transverse,forward bore defining said transverse pivot axis, said rigid leadercomprising a forward bridle pivotally connected in said transverse bore.4. The structure as claimed in claim 3 in which said bridle overliessaid body member and disposes said rigid leader at an acute angle whensaid bridle is pivoted rearwardly onto the body member, said leaderhaving a normal arcuate set, said resilient element normally being tautfrom said body member to the distal end of said leader.
 5. The assemblyas claimed in claim 3 in which said body member includes a wide rearend, and a Forward tapered end, the upper surface of the body memberbeing rounded.